Restaurant gift cards: turning a balance into a night out

Fast food rewards you for cashing out early and often. This category rewards the opposite: letting a balance build until it covers something you would not otherwise have done.

What is on the wall

• Olive Garden · Texas Roadhouse · Outback Steakhouse
• Applebee's · IHOP · Red Lobster
• The Cheesecake Factory · Dave & Buster's

All from $5, all delivered as a code to your email. They spend like any gift card — in person, on the whole bill including tax, with the remainder going on your own card.

The case for saving instead of cashing out

A $5 restaurant card is not much. A $50 one is dinner for two, and reaching $50 is a matter of not cashing out four times before you get there. That is the whole trick, and the reason this category exists separately from fast food.

The cap is $100 per card, which is more than enough for a table of four at most of these.

Two of these are not really restaurants

Dave & Buster's is an arcade with food attached, and the card spends on game play as well as the meal — worth knowing if you are buying for a family rather than a couple. IHOP is open early, which makes it the one card in this category you can spend before noon.

Check the location before you cash out

Gift cards versus paying with prepaid

You could take a prepaid Visa and spend it anywhere, including these restaurants. The reason not to is value: the discount an issuer gives us on a brand card is larger than on prepaid, and that is what funds the rate you earn at. If you already know where you are going, the brand card is the better deal.